A second half miss, heading wide of the gaping target, seemed to sum up the night for Roberto Martinez’ side as they trailed 2-0 in what was supposed to be a gentle warm-up for a last eight showdown with Brazil.

But after Jan Vertonghen and Marouane Fellaini both headed home to level, Lukaku’s brilliant non-intervention brought Belgian joy and Japanese despair.

Yet the assist will not go to Lukaku, even though his decision to let the ball run rather than try to claim his fifth goal of the World Cup – and go level with Harry Kane in the race for the Golden Boot – was absolutely the critical moment in the sweeping counter-attack.

It all started as Thibaut Courtois gathered a corner at the other end and it took a devastating 9.94 SECONDS for the ball to reach the opponent's goal.

That statistic goes to the player who supplied the pass that directly leads to a goal – in this case Thomas Meunier, who sprinted away into space to demand the ball wide from Kevin de Bruyne.

Yet Lukaku’s imagination, which had echoes of Pele’s dummy – and subsequent miss – against Uruguay in 1970, was the real creator.